


To Places I Have Never Seen

by Araine



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Arthurian Mythology Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 15:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6860266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Araine/pseuds/Araine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Excalibur is stolen, and it is up to Poe Dameron - Queen Leia's greatest knight - to ride out and find it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Places I Have Never Seen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sithmarauder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sithmarauder/gifts).



> Thank you sithmarauder for giving me such an offbeat and fun AU to work with. I was surprised to see a request for a Quest for Camelot AU, which is a movie I've loved dearly for many years, and I knew I had to do it. I'm not sure that I've represented either Quest for Camelot or Star Wars fairly with this one, but I had a lot of fun while writing it.
> 
> FUN FACT: Quest for Camelot premiered on May 15th in 1998!

Ben couldn’t see. 

There was blood and fire in his eyes, a last impression of the castle burning before everything had gone dark. He reached out with the Force. All around there was fear, as people panicked and ran, bright little dots in the Force. Somewhere behind, Ben could feel Snoke’s fury licking at his back, as hot as the towering inferno that was the castle’s towers. 

He felt his mother and her brother also, blazing white hot in the Force, standing bravely with their knights. Impressions in the Force swam past his blinded eyes: Queen Leia and her knights standing fast, her king at her right and her wizard at her left, Excalibur safe and shining in her hands. 

Ben ran faster, the Force warning him of danger mere moments before his feet fell. His lungs burned. His eyes burned.  

They had failed.  _ He  _ had failed, and for his trouble lost his eyes and everything else. 

No way forward and no way back. 

Ben ran. 

\--

When Poe Dameron was seven years old, he rode with his mother Shara Bey to Camelot for the very first time. On the journey he pestered her for stories about Queen Leia and her Knights of the Round Table, about the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and the defeat of Lord Vader Pendragon. His mother’s tales of heroic battles when she once rode with Princess Leia lasted the many miles between the small village of Yavin and Camelot. 

The white spires of the castle rose in the distance, towering over fields and houses, farms and streams, and young Poe felt his heart lift at the sight. It was there, when he first laid eyes on Camelot, that Poe Dameron decided he would be a knight. 

That evening his mother convened with the Queen and the rest of her Knights. Poe watched his mother as she filed into the Great Hall, her dark hair spilling over her armor and her dark eyes proud. As two pages hauled the great oak doors to the hall shut, Poe caught a fleeting glimpse of the famed Round Table. 

He did not catch a glimpse of the dark-haired and pale boy who watched everything from the shadows. 

Poe told his mother of his ambition to be a knight on the ride home. Shara Bey smiled, and stopped her horse so she could hug her son about the shoulders and ruffle his dark curls, and that evening she gave Poe an ancient and battered practice sword and began teaching him the very basics of swordplay. 

When Poe Dameron was nineteen years old, Queen Leia herself brought back his mother’s sword and shield along with her body. Poe took sword and shield numbly, barely understanding when the tired and grief-stricken woman wearing the crown spoke of Shara Bey’s heroism in repelling the First Order’s attack. 

When Poe Dameron was twenty years old, he took up his mother’s sword and shield and rode to Camelot. The castle’s white spires were damaged, blackened by smoke, some crumbling after the fire they had endured. Luke Skywalker, it was said, had disappeared, and so had the crown prince and Leia’s only son, and all the people he passed said it was a dark hour for Camelot.

Even from afar, Poe could see scaffolding around the castle towers. 

When he knelt and pledged his fealty to Queen Leia, he carried his mother’s shield and her hope for Camelot in his heart. 

Ten years later, Excalibur was stolen, and Poe Dameron rode out on a quest for his queen. 

\--

On the run from the First Order, separated from his horse, and lost in the Enchanted Forest was not a good look for Queen Leia’s best knight. 

Poe sprinted through branches that seemed to grab at him as he passed, his breath coming sharper with each footfall. He chanced a glance backwards, towards his pursuers. He could see them, their white-painted armor making wraiths of them in the growing dimness between the trees, gaining and fast. 

If he could just escape his pursuers, Poe would scour the Enchanted Forest for Excalibur. He had managed to hear that much, before he was ambushed by Snoke’s warriors, tied up and dragged around like a prize for all the First Order to see. He would still be there, if it weren’t for the footsoldier who called himself Finn. 

Poe sprinted recklessly through the underbrush, trying to gain ground against the wind he was losing. It was useless. He could hear armored boots crashing through the underbrush behind him. 

He was just one knight with a sword. A very  _ good  _ knight with a sword, but that didn’t matter when his odds were twenty-to-one. 

In the dim light, Poe almost didn’t see the black cloaked and armored figure hunched at the edge of the stream until he careened into it. 

There was a great clatter of armor, as Poe tumbled ass over teakettle into cold and muddy water. The black-clad knight grunted as he too fell over and into the shallow stream. For a disoriented moment Poe lay in the water, his arm caught under the black knight’s heavy breastplate. 

Then he remembered that he was being chased and struggled to his feet. Every muscle hurt, and Poe knew it wasn’t just from getting knocked into the river. He was running out of his own strength, and he could hear the soldiers behind. 

The black knight also got to his feet, lumbering up from his prone position to tower imposingly over Poe.  _ Must be six and a half feet if he’s an inch,  _ Poe thought, looking up at that curved and menacing black helmet. How the black knight could see out of that darkened visor, Poe had no idea.  _ Or maybe it’s just the armor.  _

“You should watch where you’re going,” the black knight said. He spoke in a deep ringing bass that echoed strangely from that elongated helm. 

“Of course,” Poe said, nodding. “I’ll do that next time when I’m not running for my life. Unless you wanted to maybe help—“

A crossbow bolt soared wide over his head. Poe whirled around. He could see Snoke’s soldiers – painted ghoulishly white to look like skeletons – clearly through the trees now. 

“You brought the First Order here?” the black knight demanded, whirling on Poe, who took a startled step back. 

“You say that as if I had a choice,” Poe grumbled. This knight knew who the First Order was, and didn’t sound all that friendly with them. That was an advantage that he could use. He drew his sword. “Help me get rid of them?”

The black knight didn’t answer, just stretched out his hand towards the soldiers. There was a rustling and grumbling of earth, and a tree root ripped out of the ground to catch three soldiers across the chest. 

Poe whirled around in astonishment.  _ A Jedi!  _ He thought, hope growing in his chest. Maybe it didn’t matter if Luke Skywalker was nowhere to be found. 

The black knight twitched his hand, and the tree root wrapped around the soldiers like a strangling snake, then hoisted them in the air. 

Poe didn’t have time to watch more. Three First Order soldiers were upon him, swords drawn. Poe engaged, his mind sinking into the rhythm of battle he had been taught by his mother. He whirled, not giving any one of them a moment to attack. 

One lost his sword to Poe’s quick strokes and had to dive to retrieve it. Poe grinned, battle sending strength through him. He surged forward, knocking on one of their domed helms with the pommel of his sword. It rang like a bell and the soldier fell. 

Another soldier ambushed him from behind, wrapping armor clad arms around Poe’s neck and dragging him down by weight alone. Poe’s knees buckled as the white-armored soldiers moved in like a pack of scavengers, hungry for their kill. 

The river opened up, icy waves swelling up from nowhere to engulf Poe and the soldiers. The hands dragging around his neck lost purchase. Poe took in a mouthful of water as he tumbled end over end in the rushing waves, trying to gain his balance. 

The waters subsided, and Poe was left lying on his back in a shallow stream, coughing water. It was disconcerting, like facing down a tiger only to find a kitten in disguise. When he looked around, he could not see what had become of the First Order’s soldiers. 

Poe struggled to his feet, thinking irritably that the black knight could lend him a hand. Instead the tall, helmeted figure stood there imposingly, hands clasped behind his back. 

“Thank you,” Poe said, though he was sure it was Jedi magic that had made the stream swell up. Charitably, Poe supposed that the black knight hadn’t been trying to drown him so much as get rid of the First Order soldiers, and it  _ had  _ saved him. 

“You should go,” the black knight said, his voice still carrying that strange echo. Poe was beginning to think that it was not just the helmet that provided the effect, but some trick of the Force. “This forest isn’t safe for the likes of you.” 

Poe shook water off of his sword. He would have to care for it before the blade rusted. “I can’t, I’m afraid,” he said. “There’s something in this forest I need to find.” 

The black knight turned, his helm bent down at Poe. “Whatever you seek—fairy water, the sprig from a unicorn’s step, even a dragon’s scales—they are all fools errands. This forest is treacherous for those who do not understand it. You would do better to go home.” 

Poe had to get a handle on his irritation at being so quickly dismissed. He was Queen Leia’s best knight, the best in all of Camelot, and together with the rest of the Knights of the Round Table he had been tasked with finding Excalibur. He’d been questing in dangerous places before, seen battle and bloodshed. 

“You seem to know your way around,” Poe said, unable to curb the sharpness of his tongue. “If you wouldn’t mind showing me the way, I’m sure I can manage—“

“No,” the black knight said. 

Poe stared, taken aback by the abruptness. 

He started the – probably useless – process of wringing out his tunic. “Well then,” he said, glancing sidelong at the knight. “Thank you for your assistance, but I need to find Excalibur.”

_ That  _ got a reaction from the black knight. The whole length of his body jerked, going rigidly straight. “Excalibur is here?” he asked, turning his mask towards Poe. Though he could not see the knight’s eyes, Poe felt an unnerving prickle on the back of his neck, as though he were being stared at intently. “In the Enchanted Forest?” 

Poe nodded. “Lost by a griffin in service to the First Order,” he said. “Stolen from its rightful owner, Queen Leia of Camelot.” 

“I know who held Excalibur,” the black knight said gruffly. He turned towards the forest, leaning towards it, as if listening with his whole body. “We must go quickly. A sword like Excalibur will not stay hidden for long.” 

The black knight took off into the woods, his long stride setting a punishing pace that Poe had to run after to catch up with. 

Poe smiled but did not comment on how quickly it had come to ‘we must go’. Instead he asked, “So—if we’re going to be traveling together, what’s your name?” 

The black knight paused a moment. “You may call me Kylo Ren,” he said.

\--

They made camp when it grew fully dark and Poe couldn’t see the path for the treacherous tree roots. He suspected that the tree roots might actually be shifting to trip him up, for no matter how carefully he placed his steps the roots were there to claw at his boots. It seemed the stories were true, and this forest did have a mind of its own. 

Kylo Ren seemed to have no trouble, and indeed would have continued had Poe not begged a stop. He spent the time while Poe set up camp pacing, his frustration a presence in the air that Poe found hard to ignore. 

It took time to get a fire started. The sticks were more active than the trees, and tended to run away from Poe while his back was turned. Eventually it seemed the pacing Kylo Ren got fed up with Poe’s efforts, because he knelt down and held the sticks in a bundle for Poe’s flint and steel. 

The tiny blaze did little to banish the yawning shadows, but it did provide a heartening warmth. Poe cleaned his sword with his tunic, which had dried during the walk, and oiled it with a small bottle from his pack. Only then did he pull his traveling rations from his pack – they were mostly unharmed by his dunk in the river – to eat his supper. 

He offered some of his food to his unlikely traveling companion, but Kylo Ren only waved it away. 

Poe only shrugged and ate the offered portion. Clearly the black knight had ways of getting along in this dangerous forest. He’d more than proved that in the fight with the First Order’s soldiers. 

“So,” Poe asked at last, staring at his black-cloaked companion in the firelight. He seemed to blend into the shadows of the forest. Even so, he seemed less imposing than he had at first. “You’re a Jedi?” 

Kylo Ren shifted on his seat. “I was a Jedi once. Not anymore.” 

Poe’s lips twitched. He didn’t know if Jedi could quit being Jedi or not. “But you’ve still got the magic,” he reasoned. “The powers. Once we find Excalibur, you could come back with me to Camelot—we could certainly use the help of a man like you.” 

“No,” Kylo Ren said, with the same finality he had used earlier. This time, Poe was expecting it. “Besides, Camelot has its wizard already, a Jedi by the name of Luke Skywalker. They don’t need me.” 

For a hermit living in the woods, this Kylo Ren knew a great deal more about Camelot than Poe would have suspected, but it seemed at least some of his information was out of date. 

“Luke Skywalker is missing,” Poe said. “He has been for years. When the First Order attacked and took Excalibur, the Queen sent out her knights to look for it and to find any trace of him.” 

Kylo Ren shifted again on his seat. “Then he was an old fool, to leave Camelot unguarded.”

“Then how about it?” Poe said, smiling invitingly at the knight. “Come back with me, help us protect Camelot?” 

“I said no,” Kylo Ren snapped. Silence, broken only by the popping of the campfire, reigned for a moment. Kylo Ren shifted in his seat, leaning forward so heavily on his knees that his boots dug into the soft soil. “There is no place for me there.” 

Poe’s chest tightened with sudden emotion. He knew Camelot as a place of tolerance and peace, ruled over by a just queen and with opportunity for all. If the ideals that he looked up to held true, surely there was a place for this knight there. 

He said nothing, only laid out comfortably by the fire and went to sleep. 

\--

Queen Leia Pendragon leaned against the ramparts of the castle, looking over her kingdom, in a rare moment of vulnerability. The people of Camelot all relied on her as their ruler. Her and the sword she had once carried. She still kept Excalibur’s empty sword belt buckled around her gown. 

Camelot had seen years of peace, but she had a feeling that peace was over. Leia’s life had been marked by war, first against her father Lord Vader Pendragon and later against Snoke and the rest who objected to her reign. She was used to conflict, and would resort to it if it meant defending her people. 

But she was so tired, and had lost so much. She could hardly recall her foster-father’s face, and her childhood home was lost to the ravages of war. The old wizard Obi-Wan, who had once taught her and her twin brother, killed by Vader. Her son, twisted from her by Snoke, and her brother on a quest of his own. 

And now Excalibur. 

“Hey.” 

Leia whirled around, lips parting in surprise, as she came face to face with her husband. He was not the young and unbearably handsome scoundrel she had met on her journeys any longer. Age had weathered his face and tempered his charm to irascibility, but he was familiar to her in a way no one else was. After everything, she still loved him. 

“When did you get back?” Leia asked. 

When Excalibur was stolen, Had had left along with her knights, to ply his old connections in the criminal world. It had not been a comfortable parting, Leia vulnerable and hurt as she was by the recent loss, Han needing to do something more than stand by her side. 

“Just now,” Han said, not moving towards her. It was always like this, after a time apart. Both cautiously testing the waters, letting their pride subside into old and welcome affection. “Met a few kids along the road,” Han continued, casual. “A defector from the First Order and a girl from dragon country. They said that they had the horse of one of your knights, and information that might lead to Luke.” 

Leia had to lean back against the battlements and stare at Han for a moment. He only met her eyes steadily. 

“Are they here, in the castle?” Leia asked, her breath feeling short. 

Han nodded. 

Leia swept past him, noticing how easily he fell into step beside her. “I want to meet them,” she said. 

\--

Poe learned quickly what what he had seen of the Enchanted Forest the previous day had only been the shallows of a vast sea. The trees towered, and grew trunks so wide around that ten men could stretch out their arms around the base and only touch fingertips. Everything under the branches was covered by omnipresent shade that left a chill in the air. With every step he grew more and more convinced that the trees had eyes with which they watched him, and he would on occasion whip his head about to look for the concealed eyes only to find nothing.

“Don't do that,” Kylo Ren told him after the fifth time he looked around. “It agitates the forest.”

“It agitates  _ me _ ,” Poe grumbled, but stopped looking around.

He concentrated his efforts instead on keeping pace with Kylo Ren. The black clad knight seemed to know and avoid the dangers of the forest instinctively, leaving Poe - painfully out of his element - scrambling after him. 

It continued like that for most of the day: the sensation of eyes on the back of Poe’s neck, Kylo Ren striding effortlessly ahead, and Poe muddling along behind as best he could. Evening drew on, once again turning the cool shade beneath the trees into ominous shadows. 

Far away in the forest there was a commotion of birds.

“Do you hear something?” Poe asked, tense and unsure. This could simply be a natural movement of the forest or it could be dangerous, and without his guide he had no way of knowing. 

Kylo Ren spun about, as if taking in the entire forest with his whole being. There was a ripple of power in the air. Poe waited, all of his muscles coiled in anticipation. 

“We're not alone here,” Kylo Ren said urgently. “We need to go.”

Poe stood frozen for a moment, and then-- “Where?”

“This way,” Kylo Ren said, and he took off at a dead run. Poe scrambled after him, leaping over tree roots and moss that seemed to cling to his boots, nimbly skipping out of reach of snagging branches and leaves that were dangerous to the touch. He was suddenly glad he had watched Kylo Ren so carefully. It meant that he could concentrate fully on running. 

“What is it?” Poe asked when he drew even with Kylo Ren. 

“Humans. Soldiers,” the knight replied. 

The First Order? Leia’s soldiers? Some other faction after Excalibur?

“Wait. Stop,” Poe said, coming to a halt, breathing hard. Kylo Ren took a few steps more before rounding on Poe, clearly impatient and irritated at their stopping. “We don’t even know who’s out there, or how many people they have, or how well equipped they are,” Poe explained. “And we’re leaving a trail running like this. If we’re unlucky, we’ll just lead them straight to Excalibur.” 

Kylo Ren stood very still, as if thinking this over. To Poe, this was a good sign. If the black-clad warrior thought it was a bad idea, Poe had quickly learned he would have no qualms in being blunt about it. 

“Fine,” Kylo Ren said at last. He paused, looking Poe over cautiously. “We’ll get closer.” 

They planned to double back, sneak as close as they dared under cover of the forest’s trees and underbrush, and learn what they could about the people in pursuit. It would have been a solid plan, or so Poe thought, if he was at all familiar with the enchanted forest. 

The difference between one step and the next was all it took to ruin everything. As he crept closer, he lowered his boot down onto a patch of mossy ground, slightly darker from the ground around it. The moss quivered under his toe, then let out an ear-piercing screech that set Poe’s ears to ringing. 

Poe jumped back and the moss scurried away, but the damage was done and in minutes they were face to face with a line of First Order archers. Poe stood shoulder to shoulder with Kylo Ren, feeling exposed and vulnerable next to a fully armored knight. 

He drew his sword anyways, pushing away his fear, looking around for any advantage. They were backed up against a hedge full of wicked looking brambles, but that wasn’t any help when the First Order soldiers had arrows trained on them. 

“Well,” said a clipped voice from behind the soldiers. It belonged to a redheaded man dressed in a plush black doublet adorned with gold and onyx and a permanent sneer. “The knight we have been following, and Kylo Ren. So this is where you scampered off to.” 

“Baron Hux,” Kylo Ren acknowledged. He stood unmoving next to Poe, but there was a strange mix of fear and hate emanating from him. 

“You two know each other?” Poe asked, uncertain. He looked between the two. He knew Baron Hux, who came from a long line of ambitious and cruel Barons who felt they had been robbed of what was rightfully to be theirs under Lord Vader’s rule. When the First Order rose, Hux’s barony was one of the first to throw in their lot with the new power. 

He was not sure how Kylo Ren knew the Baron, or what exactly he had meant by his words. 

Baron Hux’s lip curled. “What do you say, Ren?” he asked, sounding like he had just tasted something foul. “You worked with us once, before you turned tail to live like a savage in this forest. Help us find Excalibur, and I’m sure Snoke will forgive your transgressions.” 

Poe went cold. All this time he had been working with a deserter from the First Order. They had killed his mother. Stolen Excalibur. They wanted to bring down Camelot and all it stood for. He took a step away from Kylo Ren, seeing his guide with new eyes.

“What about him?” Kylo Ren asked, inclining his faceless mask towards Poe. 

“Kill him,” Baron Hux ordered. “And I will intercede with Snoke on your behalf.”

Poe took another step back, heart pounding and sword clutched in his clammy hands. His life hung in the balance between whatever Kylo Ren would choose. 

Kylo Ren drew his sword, and turned to face Poe. 

Poe drew a deep breath, readying himself, raising his sword to Kylo Ren. He had always known that he might die in service of his Queen, but he was not about to go down without a fight. His boots dug into the dirt as he readied himself for the first powerful blow from that greatsword. 

Kylo Ren spun and struck, quick and powerful, his sword biting deep into Baron Hux’s arm. The Baron crumpled to the ground, blood seeping out of his wound. Poe stood astonished for a moment, before Kylo Ren pulled him into a dead run. 

“Kill them!” Hux screamed, face transformed by rage. “Kill them both!” 

The archers fired. One bolt struck Kylo Ren in the side. He grunted in pain and stumbled. Poe pulled the knight to his feet, fighting against all that heavy black armor, and dove heedlessly into the brambles. To  his surprise they parted and let him pass. Kylo Ren waved his hand and the brambles closed up behind them, forming a barrier that the First Order soldiers would not easily cross. 

Poe kept moving, bearing up Kylo Ren’s weight and moving as quickly as he could. He could feel the arrow shaft still embedded in his companion’s armor, and the telltale warm tacky feeling of blood under his fingers, but there was no time to worry about that. 

They reached the waterfall cave as the sun was setting. Poe was nearly dragging Kylo Ren. The knight stumbled along, his breathing coming sharp and quick under that black mask. 

He had undoubtedly saved Poe’s life back there. Whatever else this masked stranger had done, Poe at least owed him that. He could not let Kylo Ren die here. 

They ducked underneath the waterfall and into the shelter of the cavern. Poe lowered Kylo Ren against the wall of the cave, his muscles aching with the effort. Dragging a man easily half a foot taller than him in full plate armor over treacherous terrain had not been easy. 

Kylo Ren groaned and leaned heavily against the wall. His breathing was labored, his chest rising and falling slowly. He held out a gloved hand to Poe. Clutched in his fingers, smashed by his tight grip, was a bundle of heart-shaped leaves. 

“Put these on the wound,” Kylo Ren said, his voice strained. “They’ll help.” 

Obediently Poe took the leaves, unsure what help they would be against such a serious wound. Before Poe could do as he was asked, Kylo Ren reached down and pulled the arrow shaft out of his flesh. Blood gushed after it, and Poe had to pack the leaves against the open wound and press down to keep Kylo Ren from bleeding out. 

He waited, a few moments, holding his breath. At last he saw Kylo Ren’s chest rise and fall. 

“Thank you,” Poe said, just over the trickle of the waterfall at the cave entrance. “For what you did back there.” 

Kylo Ren breathed out slowly, his chest steadily falling before rising again. “I’m done with the First Order.” 

“You didn’t have to spare me,” Poe said. “Whatever else you’ve done, I’m grateful for that.” 

Kylo Ren turned his mask away. “You’re the only one who can take Excalibur back to Camelot,” he said stiffly. 

Poe took in a deep breath. This was the second time Kylo Ren had said that he was unable to go to Camelot. It couldn’t just be because of his past with the First Order. 

“Who are you?” Poe asked. “Really?” 

Poe felt Kylo Ren tense under his hands still pressed against the wound. He waited, silent, for three of Kylo Ren’s labored breaths. 

Then the masked knight reached up and removed his mask. 

He was strangely handsome under the mask. Black brows over a prominent nose and full lips, curling black hair, a vulnerability around dark eyes that stared only straight ahead, focusing on nothing. Behind that mask, Kylo Ren was blind. Poe would not have guessed it had he not just seen the evidence of it, and supposed that he had supplemented his lost sight with some sort of Force magic. Even so, that seemed like poor reason to hide his face away in shame. 

Realization struck him, and Poe almost staggered back against the cave wall. He reapplied pressure to his hands at his companion’s sharp hiss. 

“You’re him,” Poe said, astonished. “Queen Leia’s missing son. The lost prince.” 

Kylo Ren-- Prince Ben Organa Pendragon-- closed his eyes and looked away, but he nodded. “Yes,” he said, his lips barely moving. 

Poe sat with this knowledge for a moment. He knew that his Queen had lost her only son, that no one knew whether or not he was dead. She rarely spoke of him. Poe had assumed it was out of grief, but if he had betrayed his own family for Snoke and the First Order it made a terrible kind of sense. 

And now Poe had found him, living alone in this forest by choice it seemed. Ashamed of his face, ashamed of his name, ashamed of his past. 

“I knew you,” Ben said, breaking the silence of Poe’s thoughts. “Did you know that?” 

Poe tried-- and failed-- to remember. “I’m sorry-- I don’t--”

“I used to watch you and your mother in the courtyard when you would come to the palace,” Ben explained. Poe remembered those ancient and sun-soaked days when his mother first brought him to Camelot alongside her, when she first taught him how to swordfight. It seemed so long ago, but he could still remember the shining in her dark eyes and the curve of her smile. “I remember her well. She was one of Camelot’s greatest knights, and she was always-- always kind to me. I knew it was you the moment I felt you in the forest-- you feel the same as her.” 

Ancient sorrow welled up in Poe, at this reminder of his mother. It never hurt less to remember that she was gone. 

“She died fighting the First Order,” Poe said. He had to say it, though it was not kind. 

Ben flinched, his face drawn with guilt. “I know.” 

Fury flared up in Poe, unexpected and hot. Ben had betrayed his own family, and it was Poe’s family who had paid the price. Without that betrayal, his mother might have lived to see Poe become a knight. Instead, she was gone forever. 

“Why did you join them?” Poe asked. 

Ben swallowed. Poe could see the edge of his Adam’s apple press against his coif. 

“I didn’t see any other way,” Ben said. His voice strained against the terrible truth of his words.

Poe sat silent, letting this sink in. Ben’s eyelids fluttered closed, his breathing evened out, his face strangely vulnerable in the dim light. What must have happened to him, for Leia’s only son to be taken over by evil? To see no way to go back to his family? And then to abandon the First Order and live alone in this forest for years and years. 

He had saved Poe’s life. He was helping him to find Excalibur. 

Surely that meant something, right? 

At last exhaustion overtook Poe and he had to curl up to sleep. He was astonished to find that when he took his hands away, there was hardly any trace of the arrow wound that had seemed so life threatening. The forest did have strong magic, and Ben had learned it well. 

Poe curled up against the cave wall and drifted off to sleep. When he dreamed, he dreamed of his mother’s smile. 

\--

Poe woke to the warmth of a fire and the smell of something cooking. He rolled over, stretching out sore shoulders, to see an unmasked Kylo Ren-- or rather, Prince Ben-- roasting some sort of large rodent-like creature over the fire. He had shed some of his heavy black armor, and looked lighter and less burdened for the loss. Despite what had seemed a mortal wound the night before, he was up and about without any trace of pain. 

“Did you catch that?” Poe asked, tentative of the response after their conversation the night before. 

Ben whipped his head around towards Poe, though his sightless eyes still seemed to look somewhere past his companion. His expression flickered plainly from surprise to apprehension to a kind of wary peace. Poe wondered how long he had worn the mask, if he wore his emotions so nakedly on his face. 

“Pigmice come down to the riverbeds to drink before dawn,” Ben explained, also cautious. “If you know where to wait, you can catch them easily.” 

He served a cut of the large rodent to Poe, who held it gingerly between his fingers as he ate. It wasn’t well-seasoned but it was savory and the char from the fire added some flavor, and Poe was able to wash it down with cupped handfuls from the waterfall. They both finished eating quickly. 

Poe drew in a deep breath. “How did you lose your sight?” he asked. The question had been burning at him since last night. 

“In the attack on Camelot,” Ben said. His lips pressed together, and he turned his face guiltily away from Poe. “The castle burned, and in the fire I was struck and my eyes were burned. Snoke wanted to train me, and he was furious that I was ruined, so I ran here.” 

Poe felt something ugly and vengeful rise in him. “For losing your sight?” he demanded, suddenly furious with the leader of the First Order, treating even those who would follow his twisted regime like things. “You seem to get along fine without it.”

“It took a long time to learn,” Ben said, suddenly both defensive and bitter. “Anyways he did not cast me out. Losing my sight at last let me understand clearly what path I had gone down, and I wanted no more part in it.” 

Poe leaned back against the cave wall, let his fury on Ben’s behalf seep away into the cool rock. If losing his sight was the price to be paid for breaking free of Snoke, then Ben did not seem to think it too high a price to be paid. 

Poe helped the scatter the ashes of the campfire and pack up the rest of the cave. Ben buckled on the pieces of his black armor, though Poe convinced him to leave the helmet off for the time being. 

“It helps to see your face,” he explained. 

Ben did not argue, only twirled the helmet around in his hands and tucked it under his arm. “The First Order will be close after last night,” he said instead. “We should get moving.” 

It was easier traveling with Ben without the helmet. Neither of them talked much, both aware of the very present danger of the First Order and the forest’s own native dangers, but it was easier to look to his companion and see a human face. On the rare occasions they stopped to rest, Poe cajoled quiet conversation out of Ben, mostly about living in the enchanted forest. 

Poe talked also, mostly of Camelot and his service as a knight. Ben asked no questions at these times, only leaned closer, an open hunger on his face mixed with pain. Poe contemplated this as they traveled. 

“You know,” he said, “once we have Excalibur back-- I’m sure Queen Leia would forgive you.” 

Poe thought that his queen would welcome her son back even without the return of her legendary sword. He hoped that she would, at least, after he had been living along all this time, but he did not say so. 

Ben stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide and his mouth quivering just slightly, before his expression closed off again. 

“No,” he said. “There is no more place for me there.” 

Poe shook his head and dropped the subject. It felt wrong to just leave Ben here alone in the forest, wrong to not tell his queen that her son was alive. And yet Ben was so adamant on staying. 

They passed from lush forest into a flat plain covered over by clinging mists. Thorny vines grew here, snagging at clothes with their sword-like barbs. Poe made to draw his sword to cut away the worst of the thorns, but Ben shook his head. 

“That’s a bad idea,” he said. “It will only agitate them.” 

Poe put his sword away, eyeing the greenery with suspicion. He couldn’t wait to get out of this forest and back to Camelot. First though, Excalibur. 

“I can feel the sword,” Ben said, staring blankly ahead and stretching his hand out in front of him. “It’s very close.” 

“Let’s get to it quickly,” Poe said. The specter of the First Order was alive in his mind and making him nervous. 

Ben led their way, stopping occasionally to feel out the path ahead of them. Poe wondered what it must feel like, to be tapped into the mystical power of the Force. He had heard stories of Luke Skywalker and the old wizard Obi-Wan Kenobi, and even some old legends of the long gone Jedi Order, but he had never himself felt the pull of something mystical. 

All that power came at a terrible price it seemed. At least for Ben, it had put him in the way of Snoke and seduced him to evil. 

A great cavern opened up to darkness in front of them. Poe looked inside, peering into the blackness ahead. He could not see more than a few feet into the cave, due to the murky blackness. 

“Want to be it’s in there?” Poe asked, his heart sinking at the thought. He sighed, and looked over to Ben, who stood still at the entrance to the cave. Of course the sword would be inside a dangerous cavern, probably guarded by some unknown and terrible beast. “You don’t have wood to make a torch, do you?” 

Ben’s look was full of irony. “No,” he said. “Is it dark in there?” 

Poe rolled his eyes at such a glib response. “I can’t see a thing past a few feet.” 

“Don’t worry,” Ben said. “I can guide us. Just hold on to me.” 

“Thanks,” Poe said, and he wrapped his hand around Ben’s gloved one. Together they walked into the dark cave, Ben ahead and Poe only a few footsteps behind. In the pitch black of the cave, Poe could not see anything, and had to feel his way along tentatively. Ben would occasionally whisper instructions whenever they came across a ledge or something difficult to navigate. 

Poe clutched at the hand offered in the darkness, grateful for his friend’s presence. He would have long since lost his way in this cavern without Ben’s assistance. 

They continued down into the damp dark. All the while the cavern grew cooler, making Poe shudder. From somewhere down below, he heard something that sounded like claws scrabbling on rock. 

“There’s something down there,” he said, with barely a whisper of air past his lips. 

“I know,” Ben replied, just as quiet. Poe nearly jumped, to hear his friend so close, and something electric and warm fizzled under his skin. He took a steadying breath to clear his head, and continued downwards. 

At the bottom of the cavern was a last high ledge. Ben leaped down, his boots smacking the stone with a sound that echoed all the way up through the cave. Poe tensed, but heard nothing once the echoes subsided. 

“It’s about six feet down,” Ben said. 

Poe swung his feet over the edge, then the rest of his body. He dropped down the rest of the way, sending up another echo. The moment his feet touched stone, white torches sprung up all around, leaving Poe blinking at the sudden light. He put one hand up to shield his eyes. 

Excalibur was there, clutched in the paws of a sphinx. She was twice as large as a lion, her woman’s face characterized by brown skin, full lips, and sharp eyes. Slowly, Poe moved his hand towards his sword hilt. Sphinxes were known for being patient, but the sight of those wicked claws made him wary. 

“Knight of Camelot,” the sphinx said, in her low and melodious voice. “And knight of none. I knew you would come here.” 

“We only want the sword,” Poe explained, offering the sphinx a slight bow. “Give us that, and we have no quarrel with you.” 

“I know,” the sphinx said, sounding amused. “I found this and safeguarded it, for it had been so carelessly discarded. I will give it to you freely, if you prove you are not such careless brutes as held the sword last.” 

Poe had a feeling he knew what was coming, but it never paid to be impolite to a sphinx. “What would you have us do?” 

The sphinx’s smile curved wide. “Answer my riddle and you may have the sword.” 

Poe looked over to see Ben’s expression set and determined. Poe nodded. “We accept your challenge,” he said. 

The sphinx stared at them intently, for so long that Poe wondered if she might attack anyways. Her eyes flashed. The razor of her smile got just a bit sharper. 

“It may only be given,” she said. “Not taken or bought. What the sinner desires but the saint does not. What is it?” 

Poe paused to give it some thought, but Ben answered near immediately. 

“The answer is forgiveness,” he said. A flicker of uncertainty over his lips, and then, “Isn’t it?” 

“You are correct,” the sphinx said. “Excalibur is yours.” 

She held out the sword with that great cat’s paw. Poe took it with some trepidation, curling his hands around the sheath and not the blade.  The sword wore no gaudy gems or stones, only intricate designs worked into the gold of the hilt, but in the ghostly white torchlight it shone more brightly than any gem. His skin prickled where it touched the sheath, as if he could feel all of the ancient power contained in this sword. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. 

“Best leave quickly,” the sphinx said. “Camelot has need of you.” 

Poe quickly belted Excalibur next to his own sword. Poe’s sword looked shabby and worn in comparison to the ethereal beauty that Excalibur wore. 

Ben clambered up the tall ledge, then turned around and reached back to help Poe up. As he topped the ledge the ghostly lights winked out, plunging the cavern back into darkness. Poe groped for Ben in the darkness, at last catching a solid arm. 

“So,” he asked as he steadied himself, “forgiveness?” 

“The answer was obvious,” Ben said, and started the long climb upwards.

As they ascended, Poe noticed that Ben kept himself assiduously on the opposite side of Excalibur, even when it would have made the journey easier. By birthright the sword should be his, and yet he would not touch the thing. He still seemed adamant on not returning to Camelot. Poe did not understand it. 

If he had the chance to see his mother again after ten years apart, he would not dare hesitate. 

Baron Hux was waiting for them at the entrance to the cavern, together with all his soldiers. There was a bandage around Hux’s arm, and the rest of them looked the worse for wear, covered over with scratches and tiny wounds that betrayed the trouble they’d had with the forest. 

“Hand the sword over, Ren,” Baron Hux said. Gone were his courtly manners and unctuous convincing, replaced by a hate that burned in his eyes. “Lord Snoke has been very displeased with our delay.” 

Poe drew his sword. As he pulled it from the scabbard, his fingers brushed Excalibur and a sensation like lightning flowed up his arm. 

Ben was standing still and frozen. Poe sought out his arm, grabbed onto his wrist. Ben turned his face, startled, but Poe did not betray his plan, only held tightly to Ben’s wrist. 

“Even if you kill us here,” Poe said, his heart pounding in his chest, “it won’t matter. Camelot will still stand.” 

Baron Hux sneered. “Your friend’s not very bright, is he Ren?” he asked, gaze flickering away from and already dismissing Poe. “We’ve already made our move on Camelot. Once Lord Snoke has Excalibur there will be nothing to stand in our way.” 

“Come and take it then,” Poe said. 

He tugged on Ben’s arm, nearly tripping him, pressed Ben’s hand to the sword hilt, and together they drew the sword. It shone, bright white light limning the blade’s edge and growing stronger in Ben’s hand. Poe held on, feeling secondhand the power racing from Ben into the sword-- or perhaps from the sword into Ben. The light grew and grew until it blotted out the trees and the forest floor, until it struck Baron Hux and his soldiers and turned them into dust, until it grew too overwhelming and Poe’s vision went black. 

\--

One moment Ben held Excalibur aloft in his hand, letting its power flow through him, the malevolent force laid out in front of him gone in the space of a breath. The next Poe was slumping against him unconscious. Ben wrenched the sword to the ground, felt its magic dissipate. All around was emptiness in the Force, the ground all around stripped bare by the power of the sword. 

He tossed it away as if it were a burning coal. It felt in the Force like one. 

He knelt down, checking frantically over Poe for injury. He could feel nothing, either by hand or in the Force, only a sluggishly bleeding nose and the slumbering of an unconscious mind. 

“I’m sorry,” Ben whispered, brushing Poe’s curls aside from his forehead. Another person he cared about whom his powers had hurt. 

Poe stirred, shifted. Groaned slightly. The tenor of his mind shifted as he came awake. 

“Ben?” he asked. “What happened?” 

“You passed out,” Ben explained. “Baron Hux and his men are gone.” 

Poe’s grim satisfaction echoed in the Force. He sat up. “I can’t say I’m sad,” he said. “You used Excalibur. You saved us.” 

Ben shuddered all over. He had used Excalibur, what he had hoped desperately not to do. “I shouldn’t have done it,” he said, wracked by guilt, because of course if he had not done it then Poe would be dead. The better of two wrong choices did not make it right. “I tried to take that sword from its rightful place--”

“Come back with me,” Poe said, pressing his hand against Ben’s. “Please. You belong in Camelot.” 

Ben could feel hot tears in his blinded eyes. He had never belonged in Camelot-- he had tried to find his belonging in the First Order, but had lost it. He had only found it here, in the forest alone, but the weight of solitude had become too much to bear. Having a companion-- a friend-- these past days had shown him that he could not face that aloneness again. 

No way forward and no way back. 

“I can’t,” Ben said, wracked with the weight of the decision. “You’re wrong. I don’t belong there, I never did.”

“Please,” Poe said again, and kissed him. 

It was warmth against his mouth, insistent pressure and the pleasure of touch. Poe’s stubble had grown over their journey and now scratched Ben’s skin where they touched. Warm hands cupped Ben’s face, drawing him closer as his surprise abated and he leaned into the sweetness of the kiss. He reached up, tracing the contours of Poe’s face, skimming over the square of his jawline, his heavy brows, his straight nose which flared out just a bit at the tip. 

Ben pulled back, breathing hard. Now more than ever he wished he could see Poe’s face, could see what was in those dark eyes he remembered so well. Ben could feel him, as much with his body as with the Force, hovering uncertain just inches away. 

“You belong with me,” Poe said at last. “And I need to return the sword to Camelot. Come with me.” 

It was too much. All too much. 

“I can’t promise I’ll stay,” Ben said. 

Poe’s happiness shone like a beacon in the Force. 

\--

Baron Hux had kept horses for his knights nearby. Poe picked out the two that looked swiftest and strongest and untied the rest from their posts. There was no time to lead them back to human civilization, but he hoped that they might make their way in the forest nonetheless. 

Ben paused, hand hovering just inches above his horse’s flank. “I haven’t ridden in ten years,” he explained, apprehension clear in the twist of his mouth. 

“Then it’s a good thing you have the best horseman in the kingdom with you,” Poe said, and helped Ben up into the saddle. When their hands touched the whole kiss played over again in his mind, and his whole face went hot. A smile still tugged uncontrollably at his lips. 

Ben would return with him to Camelot, and although he had not decided to stay, Poe was willing to bet he would not be gone forever. They had Excalibur, and now all that was left was returning it to Queen Leia. There was enough to be pleased by. 

He mounted up, then caught the reins of Ben’s horse and began leading them both out of the enchanted forest. They rode slowly, Poe taking care that neither of the horses got caught up in the dense underbrush and injured themselves. 

They were not far from the edge of the forest, the trees giving way to scrub and vast plains. Poe kicked his horse up to a faster pace, not quite running flat out but fast enough that the wind whipped at his hair. Beside him Ben was laid out awkwardly, clinging desperately to his horse’s neck, his stork-like legs tucked nearly up underneath him. 

Despite the urgency it was an amusing sight. Poe laughed and earned a sour look from Ben for it. 

His laughter died on his lips when he looked in the direction of Camelot and saw smoke on the horizon. 

“What is it?” Ben asked, sitting up on his mount and turning his face towards where Poe looked, straining as if he could see it himself. 

“Camelot is burning,” Poe said. 

Ben visibly tensed beside him, and some strange shadow flickered through his gaze. “Again,” he said. 

Poe’s hand once again brushed across Excalibur that hung at his belt. Camelot had burned on the day his mother died, fighting against the very same foes he was riding to face now. There seemed nothing more fitting to honor her than to ride bravely into battle. 

“We need to go quickly,” Poe said. “Can you handle it if we ride a bit quicker?” 

Ben looked a little queasy, but nodded. Poe kicked his horse into a flat out gallop, and Ben’s horse followed eagerly beside, his somewhat hapless rider clinging to the rein for dear life. The scent of smoke grew in the air, burning at the nose and eyes. So too did the noise of clashing steel and the trumpeting of horns. Around the white stone walls of Camelot, battle raged. 

The First Order had brought all its force to bear. Camelot’s knights were fighting valiantly, but the army had already breached the great walls. 

“We need to find Queen Leia!” Poe called over the din. 

“Let me,” Ben said, and closed his eyes. He did not move for long enough that Poe grew worried, especially as his pale face went gray and sweat began to stand out on his brow. Poe sidled his horse alongside Ben’s, put a hand on his shoulder in case he toppled off his mount. 

Ben opened his eyes, gasping. 

“Are you alright?” Poe asked, leaning over him in concern, but Ben brushed him off. 

“I’m fine,” Ben said. “I haven’t felt this much in the Force since--” He did not complete the thought. “She’s inside the castle. I think she’s in trouble.” 

Poe’s heart sunk. “You’re sure?” 

Ben nodded. 

Poe looked out over the fighting, surveying it. The First Order soldiers ringed the castle walls, and they were most concentrated at the drawbridge. Fighting through them would waste precious time, and they needed to get the sword to Queen Leia. 

As one of Queen Leia’s most trusted knights, however, he had a solution. 

“There’s tunnels under the castle,” Poe said. “They come out underneath the stables, in case the Queen needs to get a messenger out quickly.” 

“Those are still there?” Ben asked, but followed Poe. 

They skirted around the worst of the fighting, running into only a few loose stragglers along the way, who saw two mounted knights riding towards the battle and decided to pick easier targets. Poe rode them right up to the castle wall, where he dismounted and then helped a shaking Ben off his horse. 

It was not just the riding, Poe realized. His hands were cold and clammy, his expression drawn. When they dropped into the tunnels beneath the palace, it seemed to only get worse, until Poe could actually hear Ben’s armor rattling as he moved. Poe stopped, turned around. He took Ben’s hand, pressed his lips to it.

“It’ll be alright,” he said, a solemn promise. 

“He’s here,” Ben said, voice shaking. “Snoke is here. I can feel him.” He slumped against the tunnel wall, shaking even harder now. “I don’t think I can do this.” 

Poe took Ben’s other hand, and held both of them as tightly as he could. “You can,” he said, believing it. “You survived in the enchanted forest alone for ten years. You broke his hold once. You can do it again.” 

Ben said nothing, only pulled Poe into a swift kiss. It lasted only the space of a few breaths, but Ben’s shaking subsided. 

They crept through the tunnels, Poe leading the way in the dim light. The roar of battle outside swiftly drew away, replaced by an eerie silence. Poe could hear his heartbeat pounding away in his ears with every quiet footstep. The tunnels themselves curved underneath the castle before coming up under a stone flagon in the stables. Poe gingerly lifted it, finding himself in the familiarity of hay and horse scents. All of the horses had been saddled and taken from their stalls for use in the battle, and Poe spent a small wish for their safety. 

He reached down into the tunnels and helped Ben up, and then they left the stables in search of Queen Leia. 

Ben guided, reaching out with the Force and making minute changes in direction as they wound through the levels of the castle. It soon enough became apparent exactly where they were going. A place that Poe had known, it seemed, all his life. 

The Round Table. 

“They’re in there?” Poe asked, looking at the great doors and imagining what lay beyond.

Ben nodded. “They’re in there. My mother-- and Snoke.” 

A chill went up Poe’s spine. He shoved the fear away. He needed only to get Excalibur to Leia. He touched the hilt, feeling that now familiar tingle of power, and drew his own sword. Beside him Ben did the same. 

Poe edged the door open, keeping it as a barrier between him and whatever lay inside. He peeked through the entrance to a heart stopping sight.  

Queen Leia was there, dangling in the air suspended by nothing, struggling against some invisible force. She was armed and armored, but far out of reach of the crowned man who faced her. Pale and scarred with sunken eyes, he looked less a man than a wraith, but his power was undeniable. 

“Queen Leia!” he gloated, dangling her in the air. “You deign to use the title, when you scorn the power that was yours from birth. Without your Jedi brother and precious sword, you stand defenseless.” 

“Mother!” Ben shouted, and dashed past Poe and into the chamber. 

Snoke turned, his concentration split. Leia dropped and hit the floor with a horrifying thud. Poe ran into the room after Ben, one eye on Snoke and the other one eye on the unmoving queen. 

“At last,” Snoke said, his gaze roving over Ben with a proprietary zeal. “The wayward apprentice returns. It has been too long, my Kylo Ren.” 

Ben flinched at the name, but stood his ground. Poe could see him start to shake again though. “I am no longer your apprentice,” Ben ground out through clenched teeth. 

“I still feel it in you,” Snoke said, circling around Ben, moving between him and Leia. He did not seem to even notice Poe was there. “The darkness. It is fighting within you, waiting to unleash its potential. You wanted it once. You still want it.” 

Ben shook his head, clenching his fists and squaring his shoulders against Snoke. “No,” he said. “I don’t--”

“Want respect and recognition for your own name? Want to stand out from the shadow of your mother’s legend? Don’t lie to yourself Kylo Ren. You know what you have to do.” He smiled, indicating Queen Leia’s prone body laid out before the Round Table. 

Poe stared in horror as he realized what Snoke meant for Ben to do. Ben clenched his fists harder, jerked his head no. 

If he didn’t do something, Poe realized, then Snoke would sink his claws back into Ben and there was no guarantee that he could shake free again. Poe couldn’t let that happen, not to Camelot and not to Ben. 

“Ben!” he called, and he drew Excalibur. He tossed it through the air, hilt first, at Ben. “Catch!” 

Instinctively, Ben reached out and his fingers wrapped around Excalibur’s hilt. In his hand the sword shone bright. He raised it, a burning beacon of light, and crossed swords with Snoke. 

\--

It was the hardest battle Ben had ever fought. Despite his apparent frailty, Snoke was a powerful swordsman in his own right, forcing Ben to draw on skills that he had seen no use for years. He was quick and wicked with his blade, putting Ben immediately on the defensive. 

He could not win on skill alone, not without his eyesight. Ben opened himself to the Force, letting its will flow through him, tell him where to block and where to strike. 

Snoke was there on that front too, battering against ancient weaknesses, bolstering the darkness that raged through him. The fear and the anger. They had not gone away, not in ten years of hiding, and although he was done with hiding that did not make him whole. Excalibur stood as the only bulwark against the darkness, the power of the sword a beacon of light in the Force. 

Excalibur and also Poe.

Poe who was so brave and so sure and so good. Poe who believed in him, even if Ben wasn’t sure he believed in himself. 

Poe was enough to fight the darkness for. 

He swung, lashing out with the Force and with Excalibur, catching Snoke off guard. That was all it took to land one last blow and let the power of the sword flow through him. 

Snoke dragged at Ben as he died, clawing at his mind in desperation at the ancient connection that lay between them. Ben attacked with the Force again, freeing himself from Snoke at the very last second. At last he stood alone, Excalibur in hand, utterly exhausted. 

He was not sure how long he stood there, but a warm hand on his shoulder and a familiar presence brought him back. 

“Welcome home, Ben,” said his mother, and she wrapped her arms around him. He slumped into her, recalling all at once her unique smell, the warmth of her voice, the way she stroked his hair just as she was doing now. Tears came, quiet and hot, the only thing he could manage. 

Queen Leia placed her hand over Ben’s on the hilt of Excalibur. Under her touch he could feel its power racing to be unleashed. 

“Give me the sword,” she said, “and I’ll get this battle wrapped up.” 

Ben relinquished the sword to his mother, and then sat down on the flagstone floor with no care for anything else. He heard Poe and his mother speaking, but could not make out their words, and then sensed his mother leaving to go rejoin the battle. He wondered if Poe, as her knight, would as well, but then felt a warm shoulder leaning against his. 

“I knew you could do it,” Poe said quietly. 

Ben couldn’t find strength to answer, so he only smiled. 

\--

Later, Poe would learn that Excalibur turned the tide of battle, but it was the return of Luke Skywalker that would win it utterly. He returned out of the mists, carrying his wizard’s staff and accompanied by two young warriors, and combined his magic with the power of Excalibur.

Poe saw Ben to a bed in the castle - in the royal chambers no less - and then joined the rest of Queen Leia’s knights in wrapping up whatever was left of the battle. King Consort Han orchestrated most of that, leading the knights in flushing First Order soldiers out of whatever hidey-holes they had found. 

He found Ben again after that, looking much better for a few hours rest, no longer swaddled in black armor but instead without shirt and making use of a nearby washbasin. It took Poe some minutes longer than it perhaps would have otherwise to convince Ben to come down to the courtyard. 

Eventually and with great effort they managed to descend to properly greet Queen Leia. There was a great deal of activity around her, as she orchestrated clean up efforts and the rest of her knights. At her side was Luke Skywalker himself, the old and gnarled wizard. 

Just behind them was a very familiar horse, led by a familiar young man and a less familiar young woman. Poe rushed ahead. The horse, an orange and white pinto, pushed through the crowd until he got to Poe. He gently pushed his head against Poe’s chest, as if admonishing him for being away so long. 

Poe stroked his horse’s neck affectionately. “Sorry buddy,” he said. 

He extricated himself from the onslaught of equine affection to beam at the familiar boy - the same soldier who had freed him from the First Order, who it seemed had rescued Poe’s horse and found Luke Skywalker, the one named Finn.

“I never thought I’d see you again!” Poe said, amazed. “You brought back my horse!”

Finn shook his head. “Neither did I. This is Rey-- she found your horse.” 

The girl smiled and stuck out her hand. Poe shook it, feeling strength in her grip. 

Behind him, Ben was hanging back, hovering uncertain at the edge of the group. Poe glanced over his shoulder, and smiled. 

“Let me introduce you,” he said, and led the two of them over. “Finn, Rey-- this is Ben.” 


End file.
